POWER THRESHERS FOR EFFECTIVE THRESHING OF CROPS SINCE GREEN REVOLUTION - A REVIEW

R.K. TIWARI¹*, M. DIN², MANISH KUMAR^3
1ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, 462038, India
²ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, 462038, India
³ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, 462038, India
* Corresponding Author : rk96tiwari@gmail.com

Received : 25-07-2018     Accepted : 11-08-2018     Published : 15-08-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 15       Pages : 6793 - 6795
Int J Agr Sci 10.15 (2018):6793-6795

Keywords : Fine straw, power consumption, spike thickness, output capacity, threshing efficiency
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author is thankful to ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal, 462038
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

This paper focuses on review of development of proven designs for threshing of cereals, oilseeds, pulses for savings of labour, time and cost of operations. The development of power threshers started in India in mid 1950's.The use of mechanical power for threshing started with the use of chaff cutters in Punjab. It was used to chop up the wheat crop, which also partially threshed the heads. Mechanical threshers of varying power range (3.7-15 kW) are commercially being manufactured which not only thresh the grain but also provide good quality bhusa for cattle feed. It is estimated that there are nearly 30 million threshers of various designs in operation in the country. The annual addition to this number is 2,00,000 units. Multi-crop threshers in 3.7 kW capacity have been developed at CIAE, Bhopal, ANGRAU Hyderabad and PAU Ludhiana centres of AICRP on FIM and these have been commercialized through industrial liaisoning. These designs proved successful in reducing total losses, power consumption, straw/stalk size, human drudgery ensuring quality produce. The main parameters which affected the performance of the threshers, were speed of the threshing cylinder, feed rate and moisture content of the harvested crop. The intensity of the impact of the pegs of the cylinder on the crop was dependent on the rotating speed of threshing cylinder which affected the threshing efficiency, grain damage and power requirement. For higher threshing efficiency, fine straw quality and minimum specific power consumption, rectangular spiked threshing cylinder of 600 mm tip diameter and spike thickness of 6 mm have given best performance results with total grain loss within permissible limit. The spike thickness of 6 mm gave minimum broken grain loss with fine straw quality. The round spiked (plain spike) threshing cylinder with same configuration of threshing cylinder showed best results. But from mass manufacturing point of view, tip diameter of 600 mm and 8 mm round spike thickness will be appropriate for manufacturers. It also delivered good output capacity and threshing efficiency and fine straw quality.

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